Former President Donald Trump’s social media company outsourced jobs to workers in Mexico, even though Trump publicly railed against outsourcing on the campaign trail and threatened to impose heavy tariffs on companies sending jobs south of the border.

The company’s use of workers in Mexico was confirmed by a spokesperson for Trump Media, which operates the Truth Social platform. The workers were hired through another organization to do coding and perform other technical tasks, according to a person with knowledge of Trump Media. The dependence on foreign labor has been met with anger among the company’s own staff, who accuse its leadership of betraying “America First” ideals, the person said.

Outsourcing to Mexico helped lead to a tip-off letter from staff to Trump Media’s board that recently vexed the company.

That complaint Reported by ProPublica last monthis calling for the board to fire CEO Devin Nunes, a former Republican congressman. The letter alleges that he “seriously” mismanaged the company. He also claims that the company has hired “The Last of America”; Nunes imposes a directive to hire only foreign contractors at the expense of “American workers deeply committed to our mission.”

“This approach not only conflicts with the America First principles we champion, it also raises concerns about the quality and commitment of our workforce and alignment with our core values,” the complaint states.

A Trump Media spokesperson said the company used “two individual workers” in Mexico. “Presenting the fact that (Trump Media) worked with exactly two specialized contractors in Mexico as some kind of sensational scandal is just the latest in a long line of slanderous conspiracy theories invented by the mass manufacturers at ProPublica,” the spokesperson said.

The spokesman declined to answer other questions about the company’s Mexican contractors, including how much they were paid, how many were used over time and how their hiring dovetailed with Trump’s promises to punish firms that send work outside the United States. He did not answer the questions.

For a prominent company, Trump Media has a small permanent staff; As of the end of last year, it employed only a few dozen people, only a fraction of whom were working on Truth Social’s technology.

Trump Media’s hiring of Mexican coders caused frustration among staff because they were perceived to lack the technical expertise to do the job, a person with knowledge of the company said.

On the home page, Real Social It bills itself as “proudly made in the United States.” ”

Both as president and during his second-term campaign, Trump criticized companies that send jobs abroad, especially to Mexico. He made a promise if he was elected.”stop outsourcing” And “punishCompanies sending jobs abroad.

For example, Trump recently threatened agricultural machinery giant John Deere with tariffs if it implemented plans to move some of its production to Mexico.

“I’m notifying John Deere right now, if you do this, we will put a 200 percent tariff on anything you want to sell to the United States,” Trump said.

He made a similar threat to automakers producing cars in Mexico, demanding that they hire American workers and produce domestically.

“I won’t let them build factories across the border, sell millions of cars to the United States, and further destroy Detroit,” Trump promised.

Trump owns almost 60 percent of the social media company; this stock is worth approximately $3.5 billion based on the stock’s Friday closing price; that is, more than half of the former president’s net worth.

Election results are widely viewed as an important factor in a company’s future value. As the November 5 election approached, Trump Media’s stock price fluctuated wildly despite little to no change in the company’s actual business, which generated meager revenue. The stock closed Friday down 40% from its last peak on Tuesday. Despite this decline, it has almost doubled since the beginning of October.

Eric Swider, a Trump Media board member, offered a defense of reliance on foreign labor in a statement his lawyer told ProPublica.

“President Trump continues his America First policy, which includes putting American workers first. But Trump Media is a global multimedia company. “It is common practice in the industry for a global multimedia company to use subcontractors, who in turn use coders in a foreign country,” the statement said. “Global multimedia companies such as Trump Media have the right to control the employment decisions of their subcontractors, who may employ workers in many different countries in addition to the United States.” It won’t happen.”

Swider, a Puerto Rico-based businessman, has Donald Trump Jr. on the board. and serves alongside better-known names like former Trump cabinet member Linda McMahon, who is now co-chair of the transition team.

Outsourcing to Mexico isn’t the only example of Trump Media relying on foreign workers. ProPublica previously reported that the company used a foreign firm to source labor in the Balkans.

Nunes is quoted in a new book on Truth Social: “Disappearance of the PresidentHe boasts about his ability to keep costs low at Trump Media, although he doesn’t mention outsourcing.

“No one has grown as fast as we have. “I don’t think there’s another example that comes close to us, especially for as little money as we spent,” Nunes said. “Remember that. We built this for a fraction of what other companies are about.”